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Thursday, 10 January 2013

Review: Curse of Witch and War by Matt Larkin

This Thursday story took me on a breakneck journey and left me more than a little disappointed.

About the Author:Matt was born and raised in
Virginia, and graduated from the College of William and Mary there. His
lifelong love of fantasy began with The Hobbit. This led him to start
writing his own stories at a young age. His primary influences are
mythology and history. He now lives in Florida with his wife. - Taken from his Goodreads page.

Warning: This is a Skyfall Era short story, written after the Skyfall books (which I have not read) for those fans who wanted to know more. Undoubtedly those fans would have given this story a higher rating, while I can only judge it as an independent story. So, my message? If you are interested in this, probably read the books first; that might give you the insight needed to appreciate this story. Warning over.

Where to start? Oh my, oh my. Was I confused? There were too many things within this story that did not get explained properly. There are different races; weretigers and werecrocodiles, Solars and Moon Scions. But which of them were human, if any? And what else were they exactly? I can only make these questions after having read this story.

Also, and I know I am not very good with characters, we are introduced to a whole lot of people in a very short amount of time in the beginning. I think I knew who most of them were by the end of the story, but by that time, what did it really matter?

Furthermore I don't think the language helped at all. It was not very flowing and not particularly informative. I just found it flat and boring, almost fragmented in places. For example:

"Three, four deep breaths. He pushed himself up and trod on, broke through the fields onto the shoreline. The water no longer dragged at his legs, but still his steps slowed. Two bodies, red blood staining the sands. Malin trudged toward them. Didn’t need to see them. Couldn’t look away. He knelt beside Calon and Simhika’s bodies. Cut open with a sword." - Larkin, Matt (2012-08-28). Curse of Witch and War (A Skyfall Era Short) (Kindle Locations 261-264). . Kindle Edition.

I do not think the idea was bad. I do not think the universe was without interest either. I just did not feel that I was properly introduced to it. Because of this the plot only came off as rushed and confusing to me. I did not feel anything for the characters either, not even the MC, who seemed to have great potential at winning the readers compassion. So, I repeat: read the books if you are to read anything.

In the end I would like to clarify that one star doesn't necessarily mean that it was horrible and ureadable, it just reflects the fact that I did not like it.